Latch means for retractable ball pens



LATCH MEANS FOR RETRACTABLE BALL PENS Original Filed Dec. 14, 1953 v mmvzox.

BLANCHARD 0. SMITH BY Ms- JTTORNEYJ' United; States Patent 2,929,360 LATCH MEANS non RETRACTABLE BALL PENS Blanchard D. Smith, Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Scripto, Inc, a corporation of Georgia Original application December 14, 1953, Serial No. 398,121, new Patent No. 2,800,882, dated July 30, 1957. Divided and this application November 16, 1955, Serial No. 547,081

3 Claims. (Cl. 120-42.03)

This invention relates in general to retractable ball pens of the type in which a ball point and reservoir unit is made retractable so that it may be alternatively withdrawn Within the pen barrel when not in use or projected from the barrel for Writing when desired, and in particular to an improved latch means for holding the ball point unit at projected position and releasing it for retraction as desired.

Briefly described, the latch mechanism of the present invention is characterized by a composite plunger member slidably assembled within a barrel housing formed with a fixed latch keeper, and arranged so that one component of the plunger member is manually operable for directing another component into engagement with the latch keeper at the projected position of the ball point unit, while the other component is made manually accessible for operation to release the latch keeper whenever engaged therewith. Also, the composite plunger member is arranged so that the component thereof engaging the latch keeper is maintained in such engagement under a pressure directed angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pen barrel to provide a particularly secure latching engagement while at the same time leaving the latch means easily releasable.

The present application is a division of my earlier copending application Serial No. 398,121, filed December 14, 1953, that issued into US. Patent No. 2,800,882 on July 30, 1957.

These and other features of the present invention are described in detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation, with portions in section, of a retractable ball pen incorporating the latch means of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken substantially at the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken view ofthe upper sectioned portion in Fig. 1 showing the latch means engaged and the lower sectioned portion with the writing unit shown at projected position;

Fig. 4 is a plan view corresponding generally to Fig. 3.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the retractable ball pen as indicated generally by the reference numeral 100, incorporates a tubular pen barrel 101 housing a ball point element 102 and associated ink reservoir tube 103. The tubular barrel 101 has a rear cover cap 104 fixed directly thereon to contain the latch means, which comprises a composite operating member formed by a plunger component 105 and a latch component 106.

The cover cap 104 terminates at a rear inwardly extending annular flange 107 through which a rear portion 108 of the plunger component 105 projects as a push button, while an abutment shoulder 109 at the forward end of the rear plunger component portion 108 is arranged in opposed relation to the inner face of the cover cap flange 107 to define the retracted position of the latch means. In addition, the plunger component 105 is formed with a longitudinal recess 110 at one side thereice of arranged forwardly of its rear end and extending through the forward end thereof. The rear side of this recess 110 is inclined to face outwardly as at 111, and a lateral ridge 1 12 is also formed therein at a forward spacing from the rear inclined side 111.

The latch component 106 is in turn formed for nesting in the plunger component recess 110 and has an inclined rear face 113 and a lateral groove 114 arranged with complementary shapes for respective seating at the rear recess side 111 and lateral recess ridge 112. The inclination of the rear recess side 11 1 in the plunger component recess 110 is such as to result in outward slipping thereon of the seated rear face 113 of latch component 106 whenever forward operating pressure is applied to the plunger component 105 and the latch component 106 is allowed to move laterally outward from the forward pressure exerted by plunger component along the inclined rear recess face 111. In order for outward slipping to occur, it is understood that the ball point element is bottomed in projected position.

Normally, the latch component 106 is maintained nested with the plunger component 105 at retracted position in the cover cap 104 by a bias spring bottomed inside the cover cap 104 at the rear face of the tubular barrel 101 in opposition to forward movement of both the plunger component 105 and the latch component 106. Upon application of forward operating pressure to the plunger member 105, the latch component 106 is still held in nested relation therewith by the confining action of the cover cap flange 107, through which the latch component 106 projects with the plunger component 105, until an exterior lateral slot 116 in the latch component 106 is brought opposite the confining edge of flange 107.

The exterior slot 116 is formed in latch component 106 so as to be spaced, when the latch means is in retracted position, at a distance above the cover cap flange 107 equal to the distance between retracted and projected positions of the ball point element 102 and ink tube 103. Accordingly, as forwardly applied pressure moves the plunger component 105 downwardly, this exterior slot 116 in the latch component106 is brought opposite the inner edge of the cover capflange 107 when projected position is reached, so as to release the latch component 106 for slipping laterally outward from the pressure on the plunger component 105 to engage the latch component 106 with the cover cap flange 107 acting as a keeper.

" Upon release of forward operating pressure from the from the lateral recess ridge 112 at an angle with-respect to the longitudinal axis of the pen 100. At this latched position, however, the latch component "106 remains manually accessible above the cover cap flange 107 so that it may be pushed inwardly to nested relation with the plunger component 105 and thereby released for return to retracted position.

In order to provide for causing the ball point element '102 and ink tube 103 to follow the retracting and projecting movement of the latch means incorporated in this embodiment 100, the latch component 106 is formed with a forwardly projecting shank 117 forming a clutch to grip the rear end of the ink tube 103. In this connection, it should be noted that the lateral movement of the latch component 106 into engagement with the cover cap flange 107 at projected position results in displacing the rear end of the ink tube 103 laterally in the pen barrel 101, and that the arrangement of the writing end of the pen barrel 101 for positioning the ball point element 102 when projected for writing, as disclosed the above noted copending application, may'be used to particular advantage in the presently described embodiment 100.

The present invention hasbeen described in detail above for purposesof illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined inthe appended claims. 7

I claim: 7

l. A retractable ball pen latch means comprising, in combinationwith a tubular barrel and a ball point and reservoir unit slidably contained therein for retracted and projected positioning, a rear cover cap assembled at the rear end of said tubular barrel and a composite operating member slidably contained therein for positioning said ball point and reservoir unit, said cover cap terminating rearwardly at an inwardly extending annular flange, said operating member having a plunger component and a latch component carried thereon, said plunger component projecting rcarwardly beyond said cover cap as: an operating push button and being longitudinally recessed forwardly of its rear end with an inclined rear; recess side facing outwardly and a lateralridge spaced forwardly in said plunger component recess from said rear side, said latch component being positioned at the rear end of said reservoir and being formed with acornplementary inclined rear face and groove spaced therefrom for nested seating at said plunger component rear recess side and lateral ridge respectively, means biasing said operating member rearwardly within said cap for.

retraction, the inclination of said plunger component rear recess side being such as to result in outward slipping of said latch component rear face along said rear recess side under pressure exerted by said plunger component in projecting said ball point and reservoir unit, said-latch component being further formed with an exterior lateral slot spaced for disposition opposite said cover cap flange upon projection of said ball point and reservoir unit by said operating member and thereby allowing lateral shifting of said latch component and latching engagement thereof at said lateral slot with said cover cap flange upon said projection and said plunger component lateral ridge of said rearwardly biased operating member abutting the rear of-said latch component groove and therebyreleasably maintaining said latch component at said laterally shifted latchedposition.

2. A, ball pen comprising a ball point and reservoir unit, a barrel housing said unit, a plunger component extending beyond the barrel for moving the ball point and reservoir unit into writing position, a spring exerting a; rearward bias against said plunger component, said plunger component being longitudinally recessed forward- =ly ofits. rear end with an inclined rear recess side extendingoutwardly and a lateral ridge spaced forwardly from saidrearv side, a latch component carried by said plunger component and having its forward end secured.

to the rear end ofthc ball point and reservoir unit for. movement therewith, means located on the rear endofsaid barrel for engaging the; latch component in the for.- ward position of the plunger component to hold the. writing unit in writing position, said latch component having an inclined rear face engageable by said plunger component rear recess side upon depression of the plunger component and a forwardly spaced groove for receiving said plunger component lateral ridge in nested relation therein, said latch component rear face being inclined wardly biased operating member abutting the rear of,

to complement said plunger component rear recess side, the inclination of said latch component rear face and said plunger component rear recess side being such as to result in outward slipping of said latch component rear face along said rear recess side under pressure exerted by said plunger component in projecting said ball point. and reservoir unit, said latch component being further formed with an exterior'lateral slot that allows lateral shifting of said latch component and the ball point and reservoir unit secured thereto upon projection of said ball point and reservoir unit and that engages said means located on the barrel rear end in latching; relation and said lateral ridge of said rearwardly biased plunger component abutting the rear of said latch component groove and thereby releasably maintaining said latch component at said laterally shifted latched position.

3. A retractable ball pen latch means comprising, in combination with a tubular barrel and a ball point and reservoir unit slida-bly contained therein for retracted and projectedpositioning, a rear cover cap assembled at the rear end of said tubular barrel and a composite operating member slidably contained therein for positioning said ball point and reservoir unit, said operating member having a pluuger component and a latch component carried thereon, said plunger component projecting rearwardly beyond said cover cap as an operating push button and being longitudinally recessed forwardly of its.

rear. end with an inclined rear recess side facing outwardly andra lateral ridge spaced forwardly from said rear side, saidlatchcomponent being secured at its forward end to therear end of said ball point and reservoir unit for movement therewith and being formed with a complementary inclined rear face for nested seating at said plunger component rear recess side and a forwardly spaced groove for receiving said plunger component lateral ridge in nested relation therein, means biasing saidoperating member rearwardly Within said cap for retraction, the inclination of said plunger component rear recess side being such as to result in outward lateral slipping of said rear latch component face along said rear recess side under pressure exerted by said plunger component in projecting said ball pointv and reservoir unit, and; means located on said barrel engaging said laterally shifted latch component upon projection of said ball point and reservoir unit by said operating member and said plunger component lateral ridge of said rearsaid latch component groove and thereby releasably maintaining saidlatch component at said laterally shifted latched position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED-STATES PATENTS :F-rance Aug. 29, 

